This blog will consider some techniques for labeling or filtering Internet to protect children while allowing freedom of access and speech for adults. The blog has been expanded to include some other recent specific problems involve protecting minors (such as with cell phone use).

About Me

Since the 1990s I have been very involved with fighting the military "don't ask don't tell" policy for gays in the military, and with First Amendment issues. Best contact is 571-334-6107 (legitimate calls; messages can be left; if not picked up retry; I don't answer when driving) Three other url's: doaskdotell.com, billboushka.com johnwboushka.com Links to my URLs are provided for legitimate content and user navigation purposes only.
My legal name is "John William Boushka" or "John W. Boushka"; my parents gave me the nickname of "Bill" based on my middle name, and this is how I am generally greeted. This is also the name for my book authorship. On the Web, you can find me as both "Bill Boushka" and "John W. Boushka"; this has been the case since the late 1990s. Sometimes I can be located as "John Boushka" without the "W." That's the identity my parents dealt me in 1943!

Monday, April 03, 2017

Section 230: MO congresswoman introduces bill to amend it to give service providers more responsibility to intercept sex trafficking as well as child pornograohy

Congressperson Ann Wagner (R-MO) has introduced a bill “Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017”, text here. I did not see an HR number yet for the bill. So far she has nine co-sponsors.

Wagner wants to amend Section 230 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act (“Communications Deceny Act”) in various ways. It will take some time to sort out the potential practical implications for ISPs and for publishing facilitators and social media companies. But the most troublesome provision seems to be the last one, which is vague (in a constitutional sense) – what is “reckless disregard”?

I do know that Google screens Gmail attachments (and probably Picasa uploads) for digital watermarks associated with known child pornographic images identified by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Alexandria VA. It would seem plausible to expect companies to expand this automated screening: images are added all the time to the database when people get arrested and collections are processed by police.

Practically all reputable providers say they report child pornography if they find it. But this bill would seem to add sex trafficking to the list. That might be much harder to screen for that is c.p. But this will take some time to delve into.

Here is a copy of their press release today (they had no web reference for the release):

"Washington, DC –Today, Congresswoman Ann Wagner (MO) introduced a bill to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), which has been misused for years as a defense to shield facilitators of child pornography and the sex trafficking of children and women. Enough Is Enough (EIE) supports this much needed bill, intended to clarify the original intent of this provision.
“Sexual predators, traffickers, pornographers and child pornographers were the early adaptors of Internet technology and continue to use this technology to further their criminal activity. Every day children in the United States are sold for sex, often over the Internet on sites like Backpage.com.

"Unfortunately, such companies have been allowed to hide behind the CDA’s Section 230 provision originally designed to be a safe harbor defense for Internet service providers and companies that attempted ‘good faith’ efforts to protect children from exposure to Internet pornography by third parties,” said Donna Rice Hughes, President of Enough Is Enough, the non-profit organization who authored The Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledgesigned by Donald J. Trump on July 16, 2016. In February 2017, Enough Is Enough sent the Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Proposal (CISPP) to the White House, which incorporates the original tenets of The Children’s Internet Safety Presidential Pledge and is supplemented by additional recommendations that include amending Section 230 of the CDA.

" For years, EIE has encouraged Congress to amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1998 to allow prosecution of those who facilitate illegal commercial sex acts via the Internet, in order to thwart the practice of sex trafficking and prevent those engaged in it from profiting from the exploitation of countless children. We applaud Congresswoman Wagner’s bill and encourage Congress to take action now. This is a bi-partisan issue, which we can surely all agree on, ” continued Ms. Hughes, who voiced strong support of the 2013 effort of The National Association of Attorneys General (49 Attorneys General) calling on Congress to make a two word amendment to the CDA which would enable state prosecutors to help fight prostitution and child sex trafficking.

The CDA was the first piece of legislation by Congress, which attempted to extend the existing laws designed to protect minor children from sexual predators, hard-core obscene content and indecent pornography to the Internet world. All provisions became law with the exception of the indecency provision, which was challenged and eventually struck down by the Supreme Court. Section 230 of the CDA, nicknamed ‘The Good Samaritan Defense’, unfortunately led to the unintended consequences of gross misinterpretation by federal courts that have allowed the provision to grant immunity to companies who profit from selling sex with children and women."The Presidential Pledge and supporting documentation, including the signed Pledge by President-elect Trump can be found at the link above.

"EIE is urging the public to support the effort by using the hashtag #DrainTheCyberswamp on their social media channels

"Enough Is Enough® is a national bi-partisan non-profit organization who has led the fight to make the Internet safer for children and families since 1994. EIE's efforts are focused on combating Internet p*rnography, child p*rnography, sexual predation, sex trafficking, cyberbullying by incorporating a three-pronged prevention strategy with shared responsibilities between the public, Corporate America, and the legal community.".

Well, if this isn’t enough, consider the story today in the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that “Show Me State” attorney General John Hawley announced many other anti-trafficking measures. I’ll have to come back to this, there is too much to digest all in one meal.

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